I LOVE fall and it’s color changing leaves and cooler temperatures. But since I live in Savannah and don’t really see either, I like indulge in my 3rd favorite part of fall: all things pumpkin. There’s pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin bread and anything else you can think to add pumpkin too.

And while I love all things pumpkin, may of these are cooler weather treats. What I needed was a warm weather treat. What I needed was a treat that was perfect for Savannah’s 85 degree October days. What I needed was ice cream.

But ice cream is not the best for you, even though it tastes so good, so I knew I wanted to come up with something that was better for you, or at the very least, lower in calories. And that’s when it hit me. I had seen that chocolate banana “ice cream” on Pinterest, where you blend a banana until it’s creamy to resemble soft serve ice cream. Maybe I could use that as my base and add some pumpkin too. And so I tried it. It was SO good, that I knew I had to share it with you guys.

Pumpkin “Ice Cream”

Ingredients

1 banana

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4-1/2 cup milk almond milk (any kind will work though)

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp of no calorie sweetener (about 2 packets if you have packets)

Directions

This recipe requires a little day ahead prep. First you need to peel your banana and then slice it up and stick it in your freezer. You will also need to freeze your pumpkin puree. Rather than measure out your pumpkin and stick a heaping mound in the freezer, I suggest you divide it up. It will make it easier for the blender to crush up later. I use an ice cube tray. For me, 1/2 cup measured out to about 4 frozen pumpkin puree cubes, but actually went ahead and filled the whole tray so I could have more ready to go when the pumpkin ice cream mood struck me. (note: You don’t have to freeze your pumpkin but if you don’t your “ice cream” will be kinda soupy)

Now go to bed. Or don’t, but it may take a little but for them to freeze, so finding something else to do would be good. Maybe a workout or read a good book or clean the house that you probably should have done yesterday (and don’t kid me, I know I’m right 😉 ).

Fast forward to the next day, or whenever your banana and pumpkin puree is frozen. Dump your banana slices into your blender. I actually don’t have a blender per se; I have a Ninja and this works amazingly for it. It’s actually how we make our smoothies too. Anyway, after you add your banana, add 4 pumpkin cubes (remember that’s about 1/2 cup of puree). If you want it a little more pumpkin-y, add another cube or two, if you want it a little less, don’t add 4 cubes. Simple, right?

And then add your pumpkin pie spice and milk and blend until creamy!

Finally, put it in a bowl and have at it. I added a sprinkle of cinnamon to mine but I bet you could dip a few graham crackers in it too and it would also be delicious!

Have you tried it? What do you think of pumpkin? Can something be too pumpkin-y?